An entrancing Victorian tale

A burning witch, a girl celebrating her birthday, a master puppeteer and his two orphaned assistants, and a dark city half-drowned in fog animate Laura Amy Schlitz’s lushly written Victorian gothic tale, Splendors and Glooms.It’s Clara Wintermute’s 12th birthday, and the Phenomenal Professor Grisini and his Venetian Fantoccini (puppets) perform at the Wintermute mansion. Later...